"_Ride, ride, ride
For the world is fair and wide._"
Andy and Hortense were planning what they should do next, for it was
certain that they must go back to the Cat's house and secure the monkey
charm, if they could. Also, they wished very much to see the Little
People again, dancing on the rock in the moonlight.
"If we hide in the barn, perhaps we can see Grater and Jeremiah ride
away on Tom and Jerry," said Hortense.
"But what good will that do?" Andy asked.
"Let's take every one along--Alligator, and Malay Kris, and Highboy,
and Lowboy, and Coal and Ember, and Owl. Perhaps we'll think of
something. Or maybe Alligator will swallow Grater!"
"It doesn't do any good for Alligator to swallow anything," said Andy.
"It's always found in the sofa in the morning anyhow."
"Grandfather might know what to do with it," said Hortense. "And
perhaps it would go away."
Andy had nothing better to propose and so it was agreed to do as
Hortense suggested. That evening, when all was dark and silent,
Hortense gathered every one in the parlor and told them the plan.
"It doesn't sound very definite," Owl grumbled.
"Suggest something then," said Hortense sharply.
But Owl only looked wise and said nothing.
Hortense found it quite difficult to hide all her companions in the
barn. Owl, because his eyes were so bright, was made to go up in the
loft and look down through a knot hole in the floor; Highboy and
Lowboy, hand in hand, stood behind a door; Coal and Ember crouched in a
corner, and Hortense told them that if they growled she would never
take them out again. Alligator merely lay on the floor and, unless one
looked close or felt his rough skin, one would never have guessed who
he was. Malay Kris, who was slim and not easily seen, crouched beside
the stalls, and Andy and Hortense covered themselves with some old
empty sacks beside the wall where they could see and not be seen.
They lay hidden a long time, and nothing happened. Now and then some
one moved or made a little noise, and Hortense said, "Hush!" After that
they would remain quiet for a time.
The moon rose late, and its light slowly crept across the floor until
it fell upon Malay Kris, who moved a little way into the shadow again.
Andy and Hortense, under the old sacks, were uncomfortably warm and
very stiff from lying so long in one position.
"I don't believe they are going to come at all," said Hortense in a low
voice to Andy.
"Doesn't look like it," agreed Andy.
Then they lay quiet again.
Suddenly they heard a squeal from behind the barn. It made Hortense
jump.
"It's only one of the pigs," Andy whispered.
Alligator had heard, too. They saw him raise his head; then slowly
crawl towards the door.
"Come back!" Hortense commanded in a fierce whisper.
But Alligator paid no heed. He crawled through the doorway and
disappeared.
"I'll never bring him again," Hortense whispered, much vexed. "He's
always doing things he shouldn't and getting us into trouble."
She had no sooner said the words than another quick squeal came from
behind the barn, and then silence.
"He's swallowed the pig," said Andy.
It seemed probable, indeed, that he had done so, but they saw no more
of Alligator and didn't dare go out to look for him.
Hortense must have taken a brief nap after that, for suddenly she
became aware of Jeremiah standing in the doorway. He had come so
quietly that she hadn't heard him at all.
He stood there a moment, his back arched and his tail waving--his great
green eyes roving about the barn. Then, with a tiny sound, appeared
Grater. Tom and Jerry, in their stalls, began to tremble. Grater
laughed unpleasantly and chanted in a rough voice:
_Ride, ride, ride
For the world is fair and wide.
The moon shines bright
On a magic night,
And Tom and Jerry
Are able very
To ride, ride, ride._
With one bound Grater and Jeremiah were on the backs of the horses, and
in a twinkling the horses were out of their stalls and running toward
the door. Quick as they were, Malay Kris was almost as swift. In a
flash he hurled himself at Grater, grazed him, and stuck deep in the
wall, where he quivered and grew still.
"Missed!" Malay Kris said bitterly.
Andy and Hortense, with open mouths, watched the horses and riders grow
smaller and smaller against the moon, and finally disappear.
"Did you ever!" Hortense gasped at last.
Hortense and Andy crawled out from under their sacks and found the rest
of their band. Highboy and Lowboy, hand in hand, were leaning against
the wall, fast asleep, and had seen nothing at all. Hortense shook them
vigorously to awaken them.
"You're a pretty pair," she said.
"Thank you," said Lowboy, "Our beauty is due to contrast. We set each
other off. He is tall and graceful, and I am short, and round like a
ball. Some think me handsomer than he."
Hortense turned her back upon him.
"I'm out of patience with you," she said disgustedly.
Lowboy's mouth began to droop at the corners; his eyes closed and round
tears, like marbles, began to roll down his cheeks. Highboy hastened to
offer him a handkerchief.
"You musn't cry, you know," said Highboy, "or you'll warp
yourself--maybe even stain your varnish."
"Then I'll abstain," said Lowboy, and was so pleased with his pun that
he at once began to laugh.
Hortense, however, was still out of temper, quite unreasonably, because
she couldn't really think of anything which any one should have done.
"Where were you, Coal and Ember?" she demanded severely.
"In the corner where you put us," Coal and Ember growled with one
voice.
"Why didn't you do something?"
"Take a bite out of Grater?" Coal suggested sarcastically. "You can't
bite anything that hasn't a smell!"
"Why can't you?" Hortense inquired sharply.
"Because if it hasn't any smell it hasn't any taste, and how can you
bite a thing if you can't taste it?"
"You mean, how can you taste it if you don't bite it," said Hortense.
"I mean what I say," said Coal.
"How doggedly he speaks," said Lowboy, who burst into loud laughter.
Nobody else laughed, and Lowboy explained his joke. "Dog, doggedly,
see?"
"It's a poor joke," said White Owl, flying down the stairs.
"Make a better one then," said Lowboy.
"I never joke," said Owl. "None of our family ever did."
"So that's what's the matter with them all," said Lowboy. "I always
wondered--or should I say I _owlways_ wondered?"
"That's really a good joke," said Ember. "I didn't suppose you had it
in you."
"It isn't in me," said Lowboy. "If it were in me, you couldn't have
heard it."
"It _was_ in you or it couldn't have come out," said Ember.
Hortense stamped her foot.
"Oh do hush, all of you," she said. "The trouble with you all is that
you talk and talk and do nothing. Only Malay Kris says little and
acts."
"And look what happens to him," said Owl.
Malay Kris did, indeed, look uncomfortable, half buried in the wall,
but he endeavored to be cheerful.
"Some one will rescue me in the morning," he said. "I shouldn't mind at
all if I'd tasted blood."
"Instead you only struck the air," said Lowboy. "You must be an
Airedale like Coal and Ember."
Nobody laughed.
"It's no use making jokes for such an unappreciative audience," Lowboy
grumbled. "Take care, Kris, that you don't get wall-eyed during the
night."
Still nobody laughed.
"Surely you get that one!" said Lowboy. "It's very simple--wall,
wall-eyed, you see."
"I appreciate you," said Highboy, "but you know I never laugh."
"You'd grow fat if you did," said Lowboy. "Speaking of fat, let's see
what's happened to Alligator. Three guesses, what has he done?"
But nobody guessed because they were all quite sure what Alligator had
done. They went out in a body to look for him. He lay beside the barn
with his eyes shut and a smug smile on his face. Muffled grunts and
squeals sounded from his inside.
"What good does it do to eat things when you have to give them up in
the morning?" Hortense asked.
"What good does it do you to eat supper when you have to eat breakfast
in the morning?" demanded Alligator.
"It isn't the same thing," said Hortense.
"It's meat and cake and milk at night, and oatmeal and toast in the
morning," said Lowboy. "Not the same thing at all."
"That isn't what I mean," said Hortense.
"Well, say what you mean then," said Owl sharply.
"You are all very disagreeable to-night," announced Hortense.
"Let's vote for the most disagreeable person," said Lowboy. "I nominate
Hortense. Are there any questions? If not, the ayes have it and
Hortense is elected."
Hortense was so angry that she walked away and would hear no more. Nor
did she even wait to see that Alligator returned to the parlor.
In the morning as she lay in bed, she wondered if he had and, dressing
herself quickly, ran outdoors to see. As she ran around the barn, she
came upon Grandfather and Fergus looking at the sofa. Grandfather was
stroking his chin.
"How could it possibly have got here?" said he. "All the doors and
windows were locked as usual this morning."
"Well, who would carry it out and leave it in such a place, anyhow?"
said Fergus.
A slight movement which stirred the seat of the sofa caused them all to
gaze at it wonderingly. Then a sound came from within.
"The second time!" exclaimed Grandfather. "If it's the cat again, I'll
know he's the cause of all these odd doings."
"It didn't sound like a cat to me," said Fergus.
Grandfather, without a word, opened his penknife. Fergus and he turned
the sofa over, and Grandfather slit the under covering where it had
been sewed up after Jeremiah had been rescued. Through the hole
appeared the head of a pig. Grandfather and Fergus stood back while the
pig struggled to free himself. Finally succeeding, it trotted away to
its pen.
Grandfather and Fergus looked at one another, at first too surprised to
speak.
"Do you suppose," said Grandfather at last, "that the pig got into the
sofa and carried it off, or the sofa came out and swallowed the pig?"
"I give up," said Fergus, scratching his head.
Grandfather pondered a while and then looked at Hortense.
"It's a curious thing, Fergus, but all these things began to happen
when Hortense came. Do you suppose she is responsible?"
He looked so grave that Hortense couldn't tell whether or not he was
joking. Fergus, too, looked very grave.
"Still," said Fergus, "she's a pretty small girl to carry a sofa from
the parlor to the barn and put a pig inside and sew him up."
"That's true," said Grandfather, nodding gravely. "We'll have to think
of some one else. Perhaps it's Uncle Jonah," he added as Uncle Jonah at
that moment came slowly around the corner of the barn.
Uncle Jonah also seemed to have something on his mind.
"Dem hosses," he began, "is sho' hoodooed."
"Have they been out again?" Grandfather demanded sharply.
"Yas suh, dey looks like it. But dat ain' all. Dat knife--I sho' don'
like de looks ob dat."
"What knife are you talking about?" said Grandfather.
Without a word, Uncle Jonah led the way into the barn and pointed to
Malay Kris. With some difficulty, Grandfather and Fergus pulled Kris
free.
"It's beyond me," Grandfather said bewildered.
Fergus removed his hat and ran his fingers thoughtfully through his
hair. Uncle Jonah shook his head and went away, muttering to himself.
Grandfather looked at Hortense with his sharp bright eyes, but she did
not know how to begin an explanation, so complicated had matters
become.
"Let's go in for breakfast, Hortense," Grandfather suggested.